Cat and Mouse
by Sins of Angels
Summary: Just your average chase, complete with a hungry cat and an oddly suicidal mouse. Oneshot.


**Disclaimer:** I don't own the Harry Potter universe, go figure…

**Sins of Angels:** So my computer crashed, I'm starting school, I've been drawing like crazy…and this is all I can get out before I have to fix everything and get into the working-my-butt-off-for-college groove…

Cat and Mouse 

Running. He was running, yet again. Only this time, it was in the quite literal sense. He had his destination in mind-not that it would be any help. It wasn't a destination of escape, but rather a path, during which time he could ponder what to say before his life ends abruptly with a flash of bright green.

_Why is that, anyway? _ He thought, dodging around corners, the robe of his pursuer flapping ominously in the wind. _I mean, when I think of pretty bright green light, I definitely don't think of death. In fact, I think of plants, which we need to sustain life. Just another example of how magic has got it's own ironic sense of humor…_

His feet hit the concrete with a noise that sounded louder with each step. His pursuer had fallen into step with him, following the man running without any particular "to" to speak of, but a very definite "from". His predator had no idea he was following a man with no purpose in life at the moment except to figure out what his last words should be, accurately labeled as, of this moment, the prey. This little game of cat and mouse lacked, on his part, Jerry's profound sense to get out of trouble, just as it lacked, on the predator's part, Tom's inescapable lapses of stupidity. This was true cat and mouse, and the mouse will, in the end, die.

The only problem with that is the mouse hadn't decided what it wanted to say to the cat yet. It had five seconds to convey a very delicate message that the cat would probably dismiss if it wasn't said right, and wouldn't easily believe if it was.

He turned into his destination, the street ahead clear. As he head the faint "pop" behind him, he apparated himself, right in front of the door. The predator stood, looking around and slightly confused, at the spot his prey was just occupying. But by now, the door was open, the house was in sight, and the little mouse was desperately scurrying into its hole.

But the cat never missed a beat, not this one. It tore after the mouse and into its hole, following the little footsteps and gaining on it.

He felt it too, his pursuer entered the house to the confused shrieks of his mother. He had hit his knee on the corner of the table and was now limping, decreasing his speed and forcing his brain to think faster.

He turned into the kitchen and found the secret passage, leaving it open enough to barely see it if you looked. Running into the next room, the mouse finally stopped running. Smiling, he turned to the entrance just as the cat came though, predictably not showing any visible signs of fatigue.

And there they stood, the mouse panting, limping, and grinning; the cat standing, perfect composure, sneering.

"I think we've had quite enough of that," the predator said in his lord-like manner. "This was worthless, you're not even putting up a fight."

"Why fight the inevitable?" the prey pointed out. "I knew he would come after me. Maybe not him himself, that would seem far too obvious."

The cat, ready to strike, paused. "Obvious, you say?" it said, trying to sound uninterested. The mouse grinned even wider.

"Why, yes. Think about it, man! Why would someone like _him _take time away from his life to kill someone like _me_, when you're proving you can do a splendid job without him watching over your shoulder. Keep in mind, though, he is watching. Don't mess this up, Snivellus."

"Shut up, you scum!"

"Scum? I'm not scum! Me, and my-hah-pure ancestors are anything but scum in your eyes. Tom Riddle is the scum! Rather like you, really. Muggle father, witch mother. And a major superiority complex. You're not that different at all, in fact. And now, he's two steps closer to mortality. The self-proclaimed immortal man is closer to death than he's been in years! And it's all because of me. It's a wonderful feeling, Snape. To know that someday, that bastard will die at the hands of some hero, and I will have helped, I will have done good! Do you know what that feels like, knowing you know the secret to bringing down the most powerful wizard to date? And then actually doing something about it!"

Snape's eyes rested on his maniac face, his stupid grin. "No," he said coldly, pointing his wand at him once more.

And then, Regulus Black vanished in a flash of rather ironic bright green light.

The cat caught the mouse.


End file.
